The action of a morality play centers on a central character. This character may represent humanity as a whole or a smaller social structure. This character's weeknesses are assaulted by the personified evil forces.
At first, the tones of morality plays were grave. The plots were extremely simple, too. Because of this, it became popular to include comedic elements, scenes, or characters.
The oldest part of a morality play that still exists is from The Pride of Life which was writen about 1350. The morality play that probably has the most interesting staging is The Castle of Perseverance which was written around the years 1400-1425. It has a diagram of how the staging should be. It is also long at 3600 lines, although that is not as long as Hamlet.
The most well-known morality play is probably Everyman. In it, God has become concerned that man is too concerned with wealth and worldly goods. God lets Everyman know that death will come to visit him. Everyman starts turning to different aspects of his life. Most of them abandon him, but Good Deeds eventually does not abandon him. Everyman learns that he will be judged by his Good Deeds alone.
Morality plays are still performed today. Sometimes plays, sitcoms, and movies that have qualities of a morality play will be considered a morality play by some. Exaples are Star Wars, The Cosby Show, and Family Ties.
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